Department for Transport

Roads Funding

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Right Honourable friend, the Secretary of State for Transport (Chris Grayling), has made the following Ministerial Statement.Following the Autumn Statement on 23 November, I am today setting out further details of road investment. This new funding of £1.3 billion over this Parliament will help support infrastructure projects on roads, with £1.1 billion for the local road network and £220 million to relieve congestion on the strategic road network. For the majority of the £1.1 billion there are three goals, and those seeking funding for improvements must fulfil at least one of those goals: 1. To ease congestion and provide upgrades on important national, regional or local routes; 2. To unlock economic and job creation opportunities; or 3. To enable the delivery of vital new housing developments to meet the needs of a generation of would-be home owners. This is an essential part of ensuring we have a country which works for everyone. To ensure that work can start quickly to help continue improvements to the country’s roads, £70 million of funding from the Pothole Action Fund will be allocated by formula to local highway authorities in 2017/18. This funding is on top of the £6 billion the Government is already allocating to councils in England up to 2021 to help improve the condition of the local road network. I am also announcing funding for further development of business cases for six schemes from the large local major projects fund in addition to the six announced in the Autumn Statement, as well as approval to start construction of the Lincoln Eastern bypass. The six schemes included in the Autumn Statement were: · Suffolk Energy Gateway new road; · A1079/A164 Jocks Lodge Junction; · Shrewsbury North West Relief Road; · Tees Valley East-West connections; · Sheffield Mass Transit Scheme; · Warrington Waterfront Western link. A further six schemes will receive funding to develop business cases: · Sheffield City Region Innovation Corridor; · Manchester Metrolink airport extension to Terminal 2; · Melton Mowbray Eastern Distributor Road; · New Tees Crossing; · A500 Dualling (Cheshire); · South Coventry Link Road. This means that development and feasibility work can proceed to the next stage. It does not mean every scheme is certain to go ahead and it remains a competitive process. However, many of these will be among the next set of projects that we build in this country. Following the confirmation of the National Roads Fund, we are publishing reports on five strategic studies, into major improvements on our national road network. On the back of these, government is committing to taking forward major improvements at three points on the national network: · Upgrading the A66 to dual carriageway, creating the first new all-dual Trans-Pennine link since 1971; · Improving the M60 around Manchester – the second busiest road in the country; · Building a new Oxford-Cambridge expressway, to link up three of England’s fastest growing cities. Two further studies, into further upgrading of the A1 in the East of England and building a trans-Pennine tunnel, are also reporting. Further economic analysis is to follow, with particular reference to emerging housing plans, before taking decisions on next steps. A sixth study, on the M25 South West Quadrant, will report in 2017. In addition to bringing forward major projects, we have also announced a £220m package of smaller improvements, which will be quick to deliver and will tackle congestion in the here-and-now. This includes improvements to the A69, further enhancing Trans-Pennine connectivity. I am also announcing approval for the £95 million Lincoln Eastern Bypass with a contribution from the Department for Transport of £50 million. This scheme will reduce congestion in the city centre and encourage planned housing growth in the area. Construction will start in the New Year. In order to ensure that our road network is safer for all road users, £175million of the additional funding for local roads will be used to upgrade some of England’s most dangerous roads, where the risk of fatal and serious collisions is highest. The Road Safety Foundation’s analysis of the safety performance of the country’s major road network highlights where investment should be targeted. Therefore, my Department will be inviting proposals from local authorities responsible for the 50 highest risk roads. This demonstrates that the Government is serious about investing in the infrastructure the country needs to drive economic growth both locally and nationally and to ensure that all road users have a well maintained and safe network which is fit for the future. Further information will be placed in the House Library setting out more detail and the breakdown of funding that the Department for Transport is allocating to local highway authorities for 2017/18.



Roads Funding Document
(PDF Document, 1.08 MB)





This statement has also been made in the House of Commons: 
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Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefit and Pension Up-rating 2017-18

Lord Freud: My honourable Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Welfare Delivery (Caroline Nokes MP) has made the following Written Statement.Today I am announcing the proposed social security benefit and pension rates for 2017-18. I have attached the table of rates to this statement and I will place a copy of the proposed benefit and pension rates 2017-18 in the House library. The annual up-rating of benefits will take place for state pensions and most other benefits in the first full week of the tax year. In 2017, this will be the week beginning 10 April. A corresponding provision will be made in Northern Ireland.The annual up-rating process takes into account a variety of measures:The basic and new State Pension will be increased by the Government’s ‘triple lock’ manifesto commitment, meaning that they will be up-rated in line with the highest of prices, earnings or 2.5%.The Pension Credit Standard Minimum Guarantee will be up-rated in line with the annual rise in earnings, as reflected in Average Weekly Earnings (AWE).Benefits linked to the additional costs of disability, and for carers, are increased by the annual rise in prices, as reflected in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). A number of other elements – including Non-Dependant Deductions (NDDs) – will also be up-rated in line with prices. The majority of working-age benefits have been frozen at their 2015-16 levels for four years under the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016. The list of proposed benefit and pension rates also includes a change to the Carer’s Allowance Earnings Rule, which will be increased for 2017-18 from £110 to £116 a week.



Proposed benefit and pension rates 2017-18
(PDF Document, 353.55 KB)





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Ministry of Justice

Update on Courts and Tribunals

Lord Keen of Elie: My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Justice, Sir Oliver Heald QC, made the following Written Statement on 25 November."The Government published its vision for a reformed court and justice system, on 15 September 2016 – to modernise and upgrade our justice system so that it works even better for everyone – for judges and legal professionals, businesses and individuals, families, and witnesses and the vulnerable victims of crime.The Government is committed to investing more than £700 million to modernise courts and tribunals, and over £270 million more in the criminal justice system.Alongside this reform it remains important to make sure that our courts and tribunals service is properly and sustainably funded now and into the future, so that access to justice is protected.In 2015/16, the net cost of the courts and tribunals service to the taxpayer was £1.2 billion. This is unsustainably high and we think that it is right to reconsider the balance of funding between the taxpayer and those who use the courts and tribunals and can afford to make a larger contribution.The Government’s general principle, as reflected in Managing Public Money, is that where users are being charged for a service they should usually be charged at a level to recover the true cost to the Government of providing that service.In line with this principle we believe it is right that those who use our courts and tribunals should make a greater financial contribution, to make sure that the system is properly funded to protect access to justice and to reduce the unsustainably high cost to the taxpayer.As a result we have introduced a number of fee reforms in recent years, including to the fees charged for proceedings in the civil courts, family courts and in some tribunals.In the challenging financial circumstances faced by this country, we consider it is reasonable to ask users of Tribunals to contribute to the running costs while ensuring that access to justice is protected.Those who use our immigration and asylum system are not excepted from the need to make a financial contribution.Consequently in 2011, the Government introduced fees for the first time in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal. These fees would be paid, where they could afford to do so, by those who make an application to appeal an immigration or asylum decision of the Home Secretary. At that stage those fees were set well below full cost recovery levels.Consistent with our general principle we revisited those fees earlier in the year and launched a public consultation on 21 April 2016 proposing to raise fees in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for those who pay to a level to recover the full cost of proceedings.We also consulted on introducing fees for the first time for appeals in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the Upper Tribunal and for permission to appeal applications in both the First-tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal.In addition, we consulted on a proposal to add an exemption from fees based on the Home Office destitution waiver policy.We responded to the consultation announcing our intention to proceed with the proposed fee measures. The higher fees in the First-tier Tribunal then came into effect.The fee increases introduced in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal are affordable for those who have to pay, taking into account the fee exemptions and waivers that apply, as well as the Lord Chancellor’s exceptional power to remit fees.However, we have listened to the representations that we received on the current fee levels and have decided to take stock and review the immigration and asylum fees, to balance the interests of all tribunal users and the taxpayer and to look at them again alongside other tribunal fees and in the wider context of funding for the system overall.From today all applicants will be charged fees at previous levels and we will reimburse, in all cases where the new fees have been paid, the difference between that fee and the previous fee.We will bring forward secondary legislation to formalise the position as soon as possible. That legislation will come into force shortly, but in the meantime the changes will be effected through the use of the Lord Chancellor’s discretionary power to remit or reduce fees.Alongside the fee changes introduced we extended the fee exemptions offered in the First-tier Tribunal, to include:those in receipt of a Home Office destitution waiver in respect of their initial application;parents of, and those with parental responsibility for, children receiving support from local authorities;children in local authority care; andthose appealing a decision to revoke their humanitarian protection or refugee status.The Government believes that these exemptions are proportionate measures that protect some of the most vulnerable users of the Tribunal. For this reason the extended system of fee exemptions will remain in place.We also took the opportunity when introducing the fee changes to expand and clarify the guidance around the application of the Lord Chancellor’s power to remit or reduce fees in exceptional circumstances. This revised guidance is not affected.The role of fees in the Upper Tribunal will also form part of the review. The focus of our work is now on carrying out that review. We will bring forward any new plans for Tribunal fees, including in the Immigration and Asylum Chambers of the First-tier and Upper Tribunals, for consultation in due course.The Government’s belief is unchanged that it is right that those who use our courts and tribunals should pay more, where they can realistically afford to do so, to ensure that the system is properly funded to protect access to justice and to relieve the burden on the taxpayer."


This statement has also been made in the House of Commons: 
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Department for Culture, Media and Sport

First World War Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund

Lord Ashton of Hyde: My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Karen Bradley) has made the following Statement:I am today publishing the list of successful bidders to the First World War Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund.Cathedrals are powerful symbols of Britain’s shared history and are important not only for their architecture, history and religious learning but also as a place for local communities to come together. This fund is helping to ensure that they are in a good state of repair and preserved for future generations.Decisions on funding allocations are taken by an expert panel, which considers the grant applications against the published criteria for the scheme and decides which cathedrals should receive funding. The panel is chaired by Sir Paul Ruddock and includes senior figures from English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Church of England and the Catholic Church, as well as church architects, architectural historians and grant giving experts.I am pleased to confirm that the panel has decided to allocate funding of almost £5.5million to 24 cathedrals. These are as follows:Results of the meeting of the Expert Panel, 17 October 2016 CathedralDenominationProject AWARD Arundel RCRCWest front glazing and masonry£20,000BlackburnCofEWest tower roofs repairs and transept repointing£200,000BradfordCofERepairs to the bell tower£25,000ChelmsfordCofESong School roof repairs£300,000ChichesterCofEQuire roof repairs£250,000ElyCofESouth Nave Aisle roof and high-level repairs£500,000ExeterCofEAsbestos removal£70,000GloucesterCofEDrainage repairs£50,000LincolnCofELead pinnacles repairs£38,000LiverpoolCofEConcrete roof repairs£200,000Liverpool MetRCLantern repair research & access£200,000ManchesterCofETower emergency repairs£500,000NottinghamRCSafety upgrade to lighting£75,000PeterboroughCofEHigh level fire safety glazing to tower and access work to clerestory and roof voids£400,000PlymouthRCHeating system£100,000SalfordRCNorth porch access, masonry repairs and rainwater drainage system.£180,000ShrewsburyRCEast porch and stained glass repairs and associated work£250,000SouthwarkCofEQuire roof and high-level masonry£500,000SouthwellCofENorth quire aisle and NE transept roof£295,000St EdmundsburyCofENave clerestory and cloister and library roof repairs£350,000St PaulsCofERoof repairs and rainwater goods£80,000TruroCofESouth aisle and baptistry roof£500,000WellsCofENave roof repairs£300,000WorcesterCofESt George's Chapel damp investigation and remediation£40,000   Total  £5,423,000.00


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